The device of this invention relates to the field of packaging; specifically packaging soft rolled material such as toilet paper or paper toweling. The purpose of this invention is to provide a high speed means of wrapping and stacking a large quantity, for example, 12 rolls, of product in a package quickly and efficiently without damaging the surfaces of the product during the packaging process.
The applicant knows of no other invention which accomplishes what his invention accomplishes. Furthermore, the applicant's invention provides a high speed means by which a high quality finished wrapped product may be produced by means of a unique and simple design.
The applicant knows of no other prior art which accomplishes what his invention accomplishes or teaches what his invention requires U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,379 (Cassoli) discloses an automatic bundling machine. However the structure and the process used in the Cassoli patent is completely different from the structure and process used by the applicant. Cassoli requires that the workpieces be pushed by a piston through a resilient gate 28 into a chamber where the workpieces are stacked upon one another bottom to top. Once the desired number of units has been stacked, a second pusher 32 pushes the units or articles 12 forward into a transfer unit 33 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 of the Cassoli patent. The products are compressed so a single roll of thermal multiple weldable material is bundled around them. The applicant's invention is structurally different from Cassoli, the applicant's process is different, and the applicant does not require compression of the articles in order for them to be wrapped. Furthermore, the applicant's invention accomplishes the wrapping of a rolled tissue product in fewer steps than does the Cassoli patent. U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,587 (Rias) discloses a method for stacking and interconnecting a plurality of partially compressed multi-rolled packages. This is completely different from the applicant's invention. Rias's patent deals with the stacking of already packaged rolls of compressible insulation. Rias discloses no structure or machinery which would indicate a method even similar to the applicant's method of stacking and packaging individual rolls of material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,070 (Morse, et al) discloses a case loading apparatus and method, however, the structure and method disclosed are different from those disclosed by the applicant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,025 (Nordstrom) discloses a high speed wrapping machine but no structure or method of stacking objects such as rolls of paper is disclosed in the patent. U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,957 (Birkenfeld, et al) discloses a method and apparatus for forming palletless packages. Again the structure of the invention and the method disclosed are completely different from the applicant's invention.